Mason laughed. “They can’t find the bullet I fired into the desk out at Junior’s office. I’ve got it, Della! I’ve got it! We’ll use those bloodstained towels.”
“Go on,” she said, his excitement communicating itself to her. “What are you going to do?”
Paul Drake, listening on the extension telephone which had been plugged in by the waiter, shoved his right index finger in his ear, said, “Don’t make so much racket, you guys. My office is trying to reach me on something important.”
Mason said, “Della, I’ll claim that Junior Garvin actually did take the gun we’ve referred to as the Junior Gun up to Stephanie Falkner’s apartment, that in the meantime Stephanie Falkner had noticed that the gun we’ve referred to as the Holster Gun, which was the gun Homer Garvin, Sr. had left with her, had an exploded shell in the chamber. That convinced her Homer Garvin, Sr. had killed Casselman. So instead of leaving the Junior Gun on the table where Homer Garvin, Jr. had put it, she grabbed that gun and concealed it in her apartment. Then she took the Holster Gun, the one which Homer Garvin, Sr. had given her the night before, the one with the exploded shell, and put it on the table in exactly the same position. And, by heaven, that’s exactly what she did do!
“After all, Della, we’re a gun short. Homer Garvin, Sr. gave Stephanie the Holster Gun on the night of the murder. Homer Garvin, Jr. gave her the Junior Gun at my suggestion the following day. The police searched her apartment but they only found one gun! As soon as they found that one gun, they quit searching.
“By George! I’ll mix this case all up with the missing gun, bring in Gertie’s romantic theory, make a whirlwind argument to the jury, demand that the Court order my client to take the stand... Hang it! I’ll throw on some courtroom fireworks that will make history!
“I’ll recall Sergeant Holcomb to the stand. I’ll show that when he found that one gun in Stephanie’s apartment, he had to rush to the ballistic department to have it tested. Then when he found it was the murder gun, he became so excited he never went back to search Stephanie’s apartment until the ninth.
“We can see exactly what Stephanie did. As soon as Junior went out of the door, she put the Holster Gun on the table, and ditched the Junior Gun. By the time the police got back to search her apartment the second time she’d had ample opportunity to put the Junior Gun where they’d never be able to find it.
“That’s the only logical explanation. She felt Garvin Senior had killed Casselman so she switched guns.
“I know Garvin saw Casselman about a quarter past eight. He must have shot Casselman in self-defense. Then when Stephanie went in at eight-thirty she found Casselman dead. She stepped in the blood— She went out the back way— Hang it! Della, she saw Garvin when he was driving away from the apartment house. She knew he’d seen Casselman. It all hangs together. Police bungled the investigative work, and Stephanie was the one who switched guns!
“Della, I’ve been asleep at the switch! Why hasn’t it occurred to me before? We’ve been running around in circles about that gun, and it has never occurred to anyone that the whole case lies in that missing gun that the police haven’t found.”
“Well,” Della Street said thoughtfully, “if you can put that across to the jury with all the fire of white hot enthusiasm you have now, Chief, you’ll get away with it.”
“Get away with it!” Mason exclaimed. “Why the worst I’ll get will be a hung jury. They won’t convict her with that... Gertie, bless your romantic, daydreaming, exaggerating hide! I’m going to buy you five pounds of candy as soon as I get out of court this afternoon.”
“Oh, Mr. Mason,” she said. “Not candy, please! Anything else. I... I’m dieting this week.”
“Five pounds of luscious chocolate creams!” Mason said. “A big, five-pound box of candy.”
“Well,” she sighed, “if you insist.”
Paul Drake hung up the phone, said, “Hey! Wait a minute, Perry! I’ve been covering print shops all over the city trying to find the print shop that printed those billheads for the Acme Electric and Plumbing Repair Company and the Eureka Associated Renovators. Last night I started my men checking Las Vegas. We found a printing establishment in Las Vegas that printed the billheads all right. They were done at the order of a man who paid for them in cash and unfortunately we can’t get any kind of a description of the man. It was done nearly a year ago. The people just can’t remember him.”
Mason snapped his fingers. “Never mind that, Paul, I’m going to put this crazy, romantic idea of Gertie’s across. After all, why couldn’t Stephanie have switched guns?”
Drake looked at his watch. “Well, I didn’t hear all of that stuff. I was too busy on the phone. But you’d better finish eating if you’re going to be in court at two o’clock.”
Mason turned to Gertie. “Where is Marie now, Gertie?”
“Waiting in your private office.”
“She has those towels with her?”
“Yes.”
“On your way!” Mason said. “Tell her to wrap those towels in a package and bring them to me in court. I’ll stall the case until she can get there.”
“Oh, she wouldn’t go into court with all that crowd, Mr. Mason. She’s immense. It’s going to happen any minute now.”
“Marie will do anything that we tell her,” Mason said. “Her appearance will make it all the better. The minute she walks in that courtroom, every eye will be on her. Tell her just to walk up to the table and hand me the package.”
“But how are you going to stall things along until she can get there?” Della Street asked.
“Get started,” Mason said to Gertie. “I’ll stall along somehow. I’ll recall the last witness for additional cross-examination. I’ll think of something. Get started!”
Gertie hurried out of the restaurant.
Mason sat down to his lunch but was too excited to eat. “What a grandstand!” he said. “What a perfectly cock-eyed theory! And the nice part of it is that the District Attorney can’t disprove it. After all, in a case of circumstantial evidence, the evidence has to be strong enough to exclude every reasonable hypothesis other than that of guilt.”
“Is that hypothesis reasonable?” Drake asked skeptically.
“By the time Perry Mason gets done putting gilt paint on it,” Della Street said, “it will look like fourteen carat gold!”
“Well,” Drake said looking at his watch, “don’t get so enthusiastic you forget to get to court at two o’clock. They say Judge Decker lowers the boom on guys who don’t show up.”
Mason nodded, left a bill which more than covered the luncheon check, started walking down the stairs to the street. “I’ll recall Eva Elliott, Della. If I recall anyone else, it will look as though I’m stalling for time. Eva Elliott is the only witness I really have anything on. I’ll come down on her like a thousand tons of bricks about those bills she paid.”
“But,” Della Street asked, “is that proper cross-examination?”
“It isn’t,” Mason said, “but by the time I’ve asked a dozen questions, the jury will get the idea. Judge Decker will be mad as a wet hen. Burger will be yelling. Then with all the argument and all the objections and all of the hullabaloo, I can stall things along until Marie can get there with those towels. Then I’ll spring this theory of the substituted guns on the jury and claim that it’s a reasonable hypothesis other than that of guilt. We’ll stampede that jury, Della. I’ll put Marie on the stand. It’ll be a circus!”
“You know,” Della Street said, “you really do have something with that theory. Stephanie Falkner could have felt Homer Garvin killed him. She could have switched guns, concealed the gun they are calling the Junior Gun and substituted the one they are calling the Holster Gun, which was the murder weapon, putting it in exactly the same place on the table. She must have.”